lame vs las, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“lame” is a noun and “las” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,857
“lame” frequency rank: #3,265
“las” frequency rank: 53122
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	lame	las
Definition	dünne Platte, dünne Schicht, Klinge	1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs lesen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lame and las apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

lame

3 ch

las

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lame is [lam] while las is [laːs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53122, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lame is recorded at frequency rank #49,857, classified as anoun, pronounced [lam]. las is at rank #3,265, tagged as averb, pronounced [laːs].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 53122, this pair ranks #1,070,371 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lame vs las

Shared letters: al. Private to "lame": em. Private to "las": s.

"lame" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "las" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

lame ← alme · laem · lamme · llame · lmae

Frequency comparison

lame#49,857

las#3,265

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lame" and "las" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lame" is a noun and "las" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "lame" or "las"?

"las" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,265 in our German list, against #49,857 for "lame". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering lame vs las

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “lame”; for a verb, it's “las”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lame” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable